Gone Again
Page 35
“Don’t know if she’ll ever speak to Aquinnah again. But she’s got Alexander. The Department of Children and Family Services backed off its investigation. Debra wasn’t paranoid: Gavin was pumping those social workers with lies to get full custody of Alexander.”
“So he could rehome him, too?”
“More likely control him—remind him on a daily basis that if he ever opens his mouth, he’s going back to Russia.”
“Gavin’ll be the one openin’ his mouth—on a daily basis.”
“Is that your crude attempt at irony?”
“If irony means payback’s a bitch, then yeah.” Theo wiped down the bartop and took Jack’s empty glass. “Refill?”
“No, one is my limit. Gotta keep alert. I’m on Riley watch. We’re at thirty weeks now.”
“That’s still early, right?”
“Yeah, but it’s pretty safe territory. The doctor has Andie checking her blood pressure every two hours. If it goes up and stays there, it’s time to check into the hospital and make it happen.”
Jack’s phone rang. He checked the number and looked at Theo.
“You kiddin’ me?” asked Theo.
It was Andie. Jack answered. “Hey, honey. We were just talking about you. Your ear must be buzzing.”
“That’s definitely not my ear buzzing, Jack.”
Jack gripped his cell. “Holy crap.”
“I know, right? Dr. Starkey said to meet her at the hospital at seven.”
Jack drew a breath. He could almost feel her smile coming through the phone, but there had been a hint of something else in her voice.
“So this is it?”
“Uh-huh,” said Andie. “This is really it.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Gone Again is my thirteenth Jack Swyteck novel. Jack came to life as a young lawyer defending death row inmates at the Freedom Institute in The Pardon (1994). It’s been quite a journey back to his roots in Gone Again, but I can’t say that coming full circle was part of a grand artistic plan. When I wrote The Pardon, I had no idea that it would become a series. I was equally surprised when I started typing more than two decades later, only to find that Jack was suddenly back where it all began, standing on the familiar steps of that historic house along the Miami River. (The house is real, by the way, owned by friends of mine.)
I don’t know where Jack will go from here, but I’m grateful to the dynamic duo that has brought him this far: my editor of twenty years, Carolyn Marino, and my agent of almost twenty-five, Richard Pine. My beta readers, Janis Koch and Gloria Villa, have left their mark on more than a dozen Grippando novels. The mistakes are mine, but Janis and Gloria have saved me from even more serious embarrassment.
Finally, I’m grateful to my wife, Tiffany. Books and the book industry have changed so much since the first Swyteck novel. Your love and support have never wavered.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JAMES GRIPPANDO is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense. Gone Again is his twenty-fourth novel. He was a trial lawyer for twelve years before the publication of his first novel, The Pardon, in 1994, and now serves as counsel to Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP. He lives in south Florida with his wife, three children, two cats, and a golden retriever named Max who has no idea he’s a dog.
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ALSO BY JAMES GRIPPANDO
Cash Landing
Cane and Abe
Black Horizon*
Blood Money*
Need You Now
Afraid of the Dark*
Money to Burn
Intent to Kill
Born to Run*
Last Call*
Lying with Strangers
When Darkness Falls*
Got the Look*
Hear No Evil*
Last to Die*
Beyond Suspicion*
A King’s Ransom
Under Cover of Darkness
Found Money
The Abduction
The Informant
The Pardon*
AND FOR YOUNG ADULTS
Leapholes
*A JACK SWYTECK NOVEL
CREDITS
COVER DESIGN BY ERVIN SERRANO
COPYRIGHT
This novel is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity, and are used fictitiously. All other names, characters, and places and all dialogue and incidents portrayed in this book are the product of the author’s imagination.
GONE AGAIN. Copyright © 2016 by James Grippando, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN: 978-0-06-236870-6
EPub Edition March 2016 ISBN 9780062368720
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